Volume 34 No 4 Aug-Sept 1983.pdf - Lakes Gliding Club

GLIDING SPONSORSHIPBILL SCULL, BGA director of operationsOver the years (here bas been a modestamount of sponsorship for gliding whichhas obvious-ly been to the sport's advantage,Attracting sponsorship for sportdoes not happen by chance. Someone,somewhere, has undertaken a considerableamount of work. In ,the past fewmonths the BGA has had a WorkingGroup led by Joan Cloke -looking at thebenefits gliding could offer a potentialsponsor and the advantages of promotingOllr sport more positively.The past record. There has only beenlimited sponsorship for gliding in thepast. The WD and HO Wills Capstanused by the coaching operation from1963-69, tile inter-club competitionfor the the best trained student for whichthe main prizes were two Swallows(the first occasion) and the followingyear two K-6s. More recently AlliedBreweries promoted their new productArctic Lite using the National Championshipsas the venue as well as sponsoringthe British team in the 1981 WorldChampionships at Paderborn. Less obvious,'but 1'101 to be forgotten contributions,bave been team cars at WorldChampionships - Range Rovers fromBL in Yugoslavia (1972) and Saabs inFinland (1976) to mention but two. *All of this support has of course beenof considerable benefit to the movementdirectly 0f indirectly. Even if supportdoes only defray the costs of sending ateam to the World Championships itdoes reduce the direction of team managementeffort to fund raising.Recent considerations. If the supportwe have received in the past didn't justhappen then clearly a corporate associationplan might enable us to make thenecessary contacts and attract new sponsors.The need for sponsorship to supportsending a team to World Championshipsis evident when the cost for ateam of four (whether in a uniform ornot!) is in the order of £28 000. Clearly alevy on the movement at SOp a headmakes on,ly a sma'll contribution.One of the first questions to ask is"how attractive a package is gliding to apotential sponsor?" Before attemptingto answer that it is perhaps appropriateto consider what a sponsor might beseeking from gliding.Sponsorship on the grand scale costsbig money ancl it will be evident to anyonewho walchessport on television that('Also nor forget/ing The Kemsley Flying Trusr. SeeDecember i9'79 issue, p278, for an accowl/ ofits valuablecontribution. ED.'the benefits a sponsor gets are exposur,eof his name andlor product in the media- television and press. There is a limit tothe amount of exposure to be gained andsince the sponsor cannot get a directmeasure of the effect (as he would with:astraight adveItising or promotion campaigfl)sponsorship funds are likely to bea relatively small proportion of theilwhole budget. Further, the potentialfunds a sport can attract will be Tela tedto the exposure the sport can offer.In this respec gliding is a minoritysport which does not lend itself to TVcoverage, at leasI so far as competitionsare concerned and in any case isbelieved, quite wrongly, to be elitist.Despite the fact that George Lee hasbeen three times World Champion weare not able to raise the level of mediainterest in our sport. To make it moreinteresting requires more positive promotionat every level -press and local radio.Must "sell" the sportstarting with localWe know we've got a good productand we have got to try to sell it!* That"selling" the sport is possible should notbe in any doubt. The extent to which themovement rallied to the airways in Scotlandissue (239 MPs lobbied) is testimonyto this.The practical step necessary is a positivepromotional plan - guidelines forclubs - and these are in the course ofpreparation by the Sponsorship WorkingGroup. Once these are published we willneed an active person in every club tostart the plan rolling. Everyone shouldrecognise that any plan will not produceresults overnight - five years might be areasonable time scale if the plan isdynamic and well-managed. However weshould all recognise that we are in thebusiness of promoting our sport.What if each of us introduced five newpeople a year to the sport with a view toincreasing the general awareness of gliding?Given that this could all beachieved then improved awarenesswould gradually improve gliding'schances of sponsorship.If we recognise that we may neverattract the big time support we mightdream of, there are still a lot of opportunitiesat a level to be of value. Glidingas a promotional medium may well be• The need for positive promotion has becomeapparent in recent years with a decline in membership.Previously demand had always exceeded supply.This aspect alone warrants a separate studywhich has already beell initiated. Remember "Where isgliding going?" (S&G, April 1982, p68)? This is 1I0Wthe subject of a separate study group under ChrisNicholas.limited but much of the sponsorship isshort term and aimed simply at using thesporting venue, not so much for advertising,but simply as an interesting and differentopportunity 10 entertain or promotea product and a name.Identifying gliding potential as apromotional medium has been one ofIlhe main tasks of the working group andbefore long we will have a packageexplaining gliding and its potential 10 aprospective sponsor and this, obviously,will be followed by further efforts toattract potential sponsors. Although onlyit small step it is one which has not, tomy knowledge, been properly dealt withuntil now.Unlike many aspects of gliding managementwhere the real professionalexpertise is misdirected (such as 'solicitorsbuilding winches and engineersdrafting club constitutions!) the SponsorshipWorking Group has people usingrelated skills. The starting point for thegroup was actually the article previouslymentioned - "Where is gliding going?"A response to this came from three peoplein the form of a paper "Furtherthoughts ...". The trio are key membersof ADA - Anthony Dicks Associates.Tony is the "words" man, Alan Austinthe graphics - (he was the guy whodrew the pictures used on TV during theFalklands crisis) and Jeff Smithers is theMD who constrains the artistic talentsinto a money-making organisation. Thistrio all fly at Lasham and bring a greatdeal of clear thinking and enthusiasm tothe Group.John Alway is an up-and-comingcompetition pilot who flies at Booker.John's business is marketing and hiswork involves him in sponsorship andpromotion. Other inputs have beenmade by people with real experience insponsorship, such as John Jeffries whowas instrumental in getting the AlliedBreweries sponsorship of which I onlysaw the sharp end as a director of one ofthe sponsored Nationals,Identifying a suitably qualified teainarose from responses to S&G copy andthe peripatetic nature of my work. Thereis a lot of talent lurking around the glidingmovement - identifying it is theproblem! If you feel you have somethingto offer get in touch with Joan C10ke viathe BGA office. If you feel that youcould contribute at club level then speakto your chairman and watch this space!a, Joan C10ke says solicitors enjoy building winches!163